When you don’t have a bird in the hand, sometimes you just have to make do with a bird in the bush.
Despite their bright color, male Northern Cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis) are surprisingly hard to photograph. They like to dive into the deepest part of the bushes and forage there most of the time. Sometimes it sounds like they are taunting me.
This cardinal showed his face in the for a moment and I was able to get a mostly unobstructed shot of this beautiful bird, whose bright red color always reminds me of Christmas.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
You and National Geographic which had a male cardinal on it’s cover for their catalog. I’m sure their photo was touched up. Yours looks more real.
So true. I was watching one this morning in Sabino Canyon in a mesquite tree — I didn’t even try.
This is a bird I never see due to colorblindness, so it’s a pleasure to see him here.
Amazing colour!